125k, 100k, & 75k Bonus Offers on Amex Hilton Cards End Tonight

Hilton used to partner with Citi for the issuance of their co-branded credit cards. In January of 2018, Hilton dumped Citi for Amex, and four new Amex Hilton cards hit the market:

Hilton Honors Card (No annual fee)

Hilton Honors Ascend Card ($95 annual fee)

Hilton Honors Business Card ($95 annual fee)

Hilton Honors Aspire Card ($450 annual fee)

As of right now, the bonuses for each are as follows:

Amex Card

Sign-up Bonus

Hilton Honors Card

75,000 points for $1k spend in the first 3 months

Hilton Honors Ascend Card

100,000 points for $3k spend in the first 3 months

Hilton Honors Business Card

125,000 points for $5k spend in the first 3 months

Hilton Honors Aspire Card

100,000 points for $4k spend in the first 3 months

The 75k, 100k, and 125k bonuses for the first three cards are all marketed as limited time offers that end June 27, 2018. Amex must receive your application by today, so I would apply before midnight tonight ET.

Credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Top Travel Credit Cards.

Hilton Honors Card

Quick Facts

Sign-up Bonus: 75,000 points for spending $1,000 within three months of opening the card

Elite Status:Automatic Silver Status; Spend $20,000 on the card in a calendar year and you can earn an upgrade to Gold status through the end of the next calendar year

Category Bonuses: 7x at Hilton hotels; 5x at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations; 3x on everything else

No Foreign Transaction Fees

No Annual Fee

Hilton Honors Ascend Card

Quick Facts

Sign-up Bonus: 100,000 points for spending $3,000 within three months of opening the card, and a free Weekend Night Reward (at any Hilton excluding those listed here) after your first anniversary of card membership

Ongoing Spend Bonus: free Weekend Night Reward after you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year

Elite Status:Automatic Gold Status; Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year

Category Bonuses: 12x at Hilton hotels; 6x at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations; 3x on everything else

Lounge Access: 10 free Priority Pass Lounge visits per calendar year

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Annual Fee: $95

Hilton Honors Business Card

Quick Facts

Sign-up Bonus: 125,000 points for spending $5,000 within three months of opening the card

Ongoing Spend Bonus: free Weekend Night Reward (at any Hilton excluding those listed here) after you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year, spending $60k in a year will earn you a second

Elite Status:Automatic Gold Status; Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year

Category Bonuses: 12x at Hilton hotels; 6x at U.S. gas stations, wireless telephone services purchases directly from U.S. service providers, U.S. purchases for shipping, at U.S. restaurants, on flights booked directly with airlines or with AmexTravel.com, on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies; 3x on everything else

Lounge Access: 10 free Priority Pass Lounge visits per calendar year

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Annual Fee: $95

The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, where you could spend a Free Weekend Night Reward

How to Use Hilton Points for Maximum Value

I still agree with the strategies outlined in this post. Save your Free Weekend Night Certificates for top tier Hiltons, and use your points on [what used to be called] Category 1 to 3 Hiltons, that cost anywhere from 5k to 20k points a night. You can find locations for good redemptions (when it’s actually worth redeeming points because the rooms tend to be more expensive) in these posts:

The Citi card offers listed in those posts are dead, as like I said above, Hilton now exclusively partners with Amex.

But you’ll still get the fifth night free on award stays as a cardholder of any of the Amex Hilton Cards, as that is a benefit of Silver status (and all cards come with Silver or higher Hilton status). So like before, you’ll still get the most value per point redeeming on five night stays as you’ll only pay for four award nights.

Points & Money Awards

While I still consider the Free Weekend Night certificates the best option for getting top tier Hilton stays totally free, it’s not likely you’re going to earn a ton of those, and who would want to stay somewhere for just one or two nights if they travel far to get there? That’s where Points & Money Awards come in… making top-tier properties more affordable.

Hilton Cairo World Trade Center Residences, 20k points/night or 80k points for five nights if you have a Hilton Amex Card

In Regards to Eligibility

At this point, you cannot apply for all three of these cards today and expect to get approved. The shared wisdom is that you can be approved for no more than one Amex card in a five day period. Also don’t forget that you are limited to holding four to five American Express credit cards. Both personal and business count toward this limit. (AMEX Everyday, Delta, and SPG are credit cards.)

Separately, you are limited to holding four to five American Express charge cards. Both personal and business count toward this limit. (AMEX Platinum is a charge card.) If you’re not sure how many you have, don’t worry, Amex will likely let you know before officially pulling your credit.

If you are trying to get back under the Chase 5/24 limit, then the Hilton Honors Business Card is the choice for you. Business cards from Amex (and most other banks) do not typically count towards your 5/24 total.

Bottom Line

If you were contemplating one of the three limited time elevated sign up bonuses, on either the Hilton Honors Card, Hilton Honors Ascend Card, or Hilton Honors Business Card, now’s the time to act. Apply before midnight tonight (ET) as the bonuses are scheduled to end June 27, 2018 (today).

The 100k bonus on Amex’s premium Hilton card, the Aspire, is not marketed as a limited-time bonus and has no published expiration date.

Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.

Sarah Page Maxwell became a miles nerd after moving her base to Buenos Aires and beginning a transient lifestyle that would be otherwise too expensive without miles and points. In addition to travel, her other passions include hot sauce, yoga, and her boston terrier Omar.

3 COMMENTS

Totally depends on what hotel you book, and that’s harder to determine now that Hilton doesn’t have an award chart anymore. If you follow my strategy discussed above and only book what used to be labeled as Category 1 – 3 hotels (max 5k to 20k a night) and took advantage of the fifth night free benefit by booking only five night stays, then 25 nights max (in 5k/night properties) or 6 nights minimum (in 20k/night properties).

I’ve got the Ascend and have been eyeballing the Aspire because I have a bunch of Hilton travel upcoming in the next year. Glad I don’t have to make that decision right away because I like to time my spend.

BTW, if you pay for your own healthcare, most of them take plastic and with the crazy insurance rates these days, your minimum spend is almost covered with just that.

EDITOR PICKS

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Sarah Page Maxwell is a miles aficionado and avid traveler, born in Virginia, raised in North Carolina, and currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has earned and redeemed millions of miles for herself and others. Traveling for free, the 29-year-old has been to 20+ countries, making sure to catch as many sunsets in each that she can.

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Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.